To expand production capacity, it was necessary to build the twenty-first factory, near Rome.
There were two choices to respect time and the budget:

• Entrust the design and construction to a general contractor, or
• Choose specialists in food systems design to create the project first, and then contract the work

The first seemed the simplest, but then EAST Balt would be inextricably tied to a contractor who would have undue influence without any controls on time and cost.
The second option involved choosing an engineering company truly specialised in food industry system design and entrusting them with the design and project management for the systems, only once the work had been contracted out according to the best quality/price ratio, thus maintaining full control over time, costs, quality and performance.

The challenge was to achieve a well-defined, complete and precise project, even if the processing systems had not yet been chosen and therefore they were lacking important information and data, which influenced the design of the food systems.

There was a strong temptation to entrust the design and work to the installer; some think that it makes no sense to spend time and money on a design before having data on the processing lines, which must be supplied precisely by the systems to be designed.
Previous negative experiences arising from directly entrusting construction companies with the work without a design for the systems convinced East Balt to first select an engineering company for the design, and only then to contract the work.
PLANEX was chosen from a whole host of competitors.
Thanks to our exclusive PAD® – Planex Agile Design process, East Balt’s strategic objectives were achieved

Thanks to PAD®, the design of the mechanical, electrical and special systems proved to be perfectly suitable and not influenced by the definition of the processing systems made at a very advanced site. The contractors could not ask for economic or time-related variations, and production started within the established deadlines.

East Balt now has fully functional systems, complete with all the documentation and tools necessary to manage and maintain its installations with maximum operational and energy efficiency.
Location: Monterotondo (Rome)
Surface area: approximately 8,500 square meters
Intended use: Food
Services performed: feasibility study, preliminary design, project planning, specialised management of systems work, testing and commissioning, performance monitoring.
Work designed: systems: electrical power, ventilation, air conditioning, process fluids distribution, plumbing fixtures, fire protection, lighting, fire and gas detection, CCTV, phone and data network, automation and building management, compressed air, heat recovery, energy monitoring